In Pink

Years before Harlem reared rapper Cam'ron began rocking pink like some kind of uptown Mary Kay cosmetic chick, the hue belonged to my man Jesse Johnson who chose the color after Prince opted for the purple material. Back in the day, when I still lived in Washington Heights and watched BET in the middle of the night on UHF, it was all about Prince and the synth-funk-rock of the Minneapolis sound.

It seemed as though every few months a different side project (Apollonia 6, The Family) was launched or another disgruntled employee (Andre Cymone, Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam) was striking out on their own. As a fan of Prince and everything he ever touched or influenced , I felt obligated to buy them all. At the height of my fandom in 1984, the same year Purple Rain was released, Jesse Johnson broke away from The Time, holed himself up in the studio and crafted his dope debut The Jesse Johnson Review. Released in 1985, the album contained "Be Your Man," "Can You Help Me" and "I Want My Girl," songs I played continuously in my cluttered bedroom.

Last January, when Wax Poetics editor-in-chief sent me an email telling me about the special Prince issue they were planning, he asked who I'd like to interview. The first person who popped into my mind was Jesse Johnson, and I figured I'd go through a Google search and try to track him down. Yet, as luck would have it, a few days later my friend Dyana Williams, a Philadelphia disc jockey who co-hosts the weekly Soulful Sundays with Derrick Sampson on 100.3 WRNB, blasted on Facebook that Jesse was going to be on her show.

Calling her a few minutes later, Dyana introduced me to Jesse's manager Mark via email that same day. Mark told me Jesse would be playing at the Hard Rock Cafe over MLK week-end. While the venue was a strange place for a concert, and the headliner was a little awkward in the beginning, Johnson soon got into the groove and it was funky sailing. Unfortunately, about an hour into his set, the Hard Rock decided it was time for us to leave and killed Jesse's sound in the middle of the show.

Although forced from the stage, Jesse refused to be bum rushed from the backstage area. For the next hour he signed autographs, took pictures with fans and chatted with everybody as though we were all friends and family. Outside it was one of the coldest nights of the winter and a ice storm was brewing, but backstage I was smiling from the warmth that radiated from the people in that room, especially Jesse.

The following day, Jesse and I sat in Dyana's townhouse, where she prepared us lunch, and talked about his life and career. For 90 minutes, Jesse talked about guitar craft, living with Prince, playing on the road, experimenting in the studio, working with filmmaker John Hughes, his friendship with engineer Susan Rogers, recording the then-new Time (Original 7ven) album and jamming with his old Newport smoking friend D'Angelo--who he is currently playing with in Europe. Although not as long my previous Wax Poetic pieces on Barry White, Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield, one of Jesse's favorite guitar players, he was generous with his time, straight-up with his answers and gave me the interview I had imagined since the eighties.

Prince fans who peep the cover of the new and improved Wax Poetics (or, WP) is bound to be excited by the 1999 era photo of the purple maestro. Shout-out to fellow scribes Miles Marshall Lewis (Madhouse), Erika Blount (Andre Cymone) and Dean Van Nguyn (Morris Day), who have all been waiting patiently for this issue to rear its pretty face.

In Pink

Years before Harlem reared rapper Cam'ron began rocking pink like some kind of uptown Mary Kay cosmetic chick, the hue belonged to my man Jesse Johnson who chose the color after Prince opted for the purple material. Back in the day, when I still lived in Washington Heights and watched BET in the middle of the night on UHF, it was all about Prince and the synth-funk-rock of the Minneapolis sound.

It seemed as though every few months a different side project (Apollonia 6, The Family) was launched or another disgruntled employee (Andre Cymone, Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam) was striking out on their own. As a fan of Prince and everything he ever touched or influenced , I felt obligated to buy them all. At the height of my fandom in 1984, the same year Purple Rain was released, Jesse Johnson broke away from The Time, holed himself up in the studio and crafted his dope debut The Jesse Johnson Review. Released in 1985, the album contained "Be Your Man," "Can You Help Me" and "I Want My Girl," songs I played continuously in my cluttered bedroom.

Last January, when Wax Poetics editor-in-chief sent me an email telling me about the special Prince issue they were planning, he asked who I'd like to interview. The first person who popped into my mind was Jesse Johnson, and I figured I'd go through a Google search and try to track him down. Yet, as luck would have it, a few days later my friend Dyana Williams, a Philadelphia disc jockey who co-hosts the weekly Soulful Sundays with Derrick Sampson on 100.3 WRNB, blasted on Facebook that Jesse was going to be on her show.

Calling her a few minutes later, Dyana introduced me to Jesse's manager Mark via email that same day. Mark told me Jesse would be playing at the Hard Rock Cafe over MLK week-end. While the venue was a strange place for a concert, and the headliner was a little awkward in the beginning, Johnson soon got into the groove and it was funky sailing. Unfortunately, about an hour into his set, the Hard Rock decided it was time for us to leave and killed Jesse's sound in the middle of the show.

Although forced from the stage, Jesse refused to be bum rushed from the backstage area. For the next hour he signed autographs, took pictures with fans and chatted with everybody as though we were all friends and family. Outside it was one of the coldest nights of the winter and a ice storm was brewing, but backstage I was smiling from the warmth that radiated from the people in that room, especially Jesse.

The following day, Jesse and I sat in Dyana's townhouse, where she prepared us lunch, and talked about his life and career. For 90 minutes, Jesse talked about guitar craft, living with Prince, playing on the road, experimenting in the studio, working with filmmaker John Hughes, his friendship with engineer Susan Rogers, recording the then-new Time (Original 7ven) album and jamming with his old Newport smoking friend D'Angelo--who he is currently playing with in Europe. Although not as long my previous Wax Poetic pieces on Barry White, Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield, one of Jesse's favorite guitar players, he was generous with his time, straight-up with his answers and gave me the interview I had imagined since the eighties.

Prince fans who peep the cover of the new and improved Wax Poetics (or, WP) are bound to be excited by the 1999 era photo of the purple maestro. Shout-out to fellow scribes Miles Marshall Lewis (Madhouse), Erika Blount (Andre Cymone) and Dean Van Nguyn (Morris Day), who have all been waiting patiently for this issue to rear its pretty face.

I was at the Philly show! I too thought The Hard Rock was an odd venue (I wish he would have performed at World Cafe Live, the best venue for sound in the city in my opinion), but Jesse was on fire... I couldn't believe that Hard Rock ended the show too prematurely:( He was just getting started!!

It seemed as though every few months a different side project (Apollonia 6, The Family) was launched or another disgruntled employee (Andre Cymone, Terry Lewis & Jimmy Jam) was striking out on their own. As a fan of Prince and everything he ever touched or influenced , I felt obligated to buy them all. At the height of my fandom in 1984, the same year Purple Rain was released, Jesse Johnson broke away from The Time, holed himself up in the studio and crafted his dope debut The Jesse Johnson Review. Released in 1985, the album contained "Be Your Man," "Can You Help Me" and "I Want My Girl," songs I played continuously in my cluttered bedroom.

I have the magazine. It's not really an interview, in a question & answer format. It's more like an article with Jesse's quotes "narrating" the story. Susan Rogers & Mark Cardenas also speaks about Jesse in the article. It's too long to type out, and I would guess that would be copyright infringement anyway since the story is not on their website.

It's called show business for a reason. It’s 90% business and 10% show. If you don’t know your business…you’re in trouble! ~ Johnnie Taylor / Basically, music is nothing but prostitution anyway and managers are the pimps ~ Millie Jackson

Reply #8 posted 02/25/12 4:40pm

scriptgirl

What's he say about D?

"Lack of home training crosses all boundaries."

Reply #9 posted 02/25/12 5:34pm

MickyDolenz

scriptgirl said:

What's he say about D?

Are you talking about D'angelo? Then, not much. All Jesse says that he jammed on bass guitar with D'angelo. Like most Wax Poetics articles, it's a biographical background, like Jesse's history. It's not really about anything current, although the Original 7ven's album is mentioned by the writer. Morris Day's article doesn't mention the O7 at all, but his interview and story might have been done prior to the album release.

It's called show business for a reason. It’s 90% business and 10% show. If you don’t know your business…you’re in trouble! ~ Johnnie Taylor / Basically, music is nothing but prostitution anyway and managers are the pimps ~ Millie Jackson